The provincial government says it has allocated about $1.2-million to fund additional medical flights in and out of Labrador through September.

Last week, the government announced the pilot project, which has already funded 117 seats for medical appointments over the last month.

Health Minister Lela Evans believes the program will save the government money in the long run.

“We discovered in actual fact we should be accessing much more federal dollars to offset the cost. So in actual fact when we look at the increased capacity this should have been in place years ago,” she told reporters, “In actual fact the federal government had funds there that we weren’t availing of. And so for us, as we’re going to go back now, so in actual fact it may not cost anything to the provincial government.”